Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to spinners for gas turbine engine fan assemblies and, more specifically, to mounting the spinners to fan rotors.
Description of Related Art
Aircraft turbofan gas turbine engines include a fan assembly having a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart fan blades extending radially outwardly from a rotor disk. Ambient airflow is channeled between the blades and pressurized thereby generating thrust for powering the aircraft in flight. The fan assembly typically includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart fan blades each having a dovetail root disposed in a complementary axially extending dovetail groove or slot in a perimeter or rim of a rotor disk or drum. A spinner is mounted to a front end of the fan assembly to provide smooth airflow into the fan as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,416,280, by Forrester et al., entitled “One Piece Spinner”, which issued Jul. 9, 2002, is assigned to the present assignee, the General Electric Company, and which is incorporated herein by reference.
Some spinners are one piece spinners that attach directly to the disk post and some spinners are two piece spinners that have an upper portion of the spinner attached to a flange extending axially forwardly from a disk and a lower portion of the spinner attached to the upper portion of the spinner. This upper portion of the spinner is referred to as a spinner support.
Current methods and attachment of the spinner to the spinner support incorporate bolts. Spinner disassembly method requires jack-screw removal and a scallop method requires a special tool. There is a high risk of spinner surface damage if an incorrect tool is used. This tool is often required to be shipped along with the spinner to avoid mishandling.
Jack-screws require inserts which if damaged then require a jack-screw hole size to be increased. The jack-screw uses a jack-screw Chances wound spring insert which can be released into the flowpath. Jack-screws manufacturers recommend a back spot face on the mating part to offset the inevitable high metal spallings generated from the screw itself.
It is highly desirable to avoid expensive methods and designs for attaching the spinner to the spinner support. It is desirable to avoid spinner designs and disassembly methods using jack-screw removal and a scallop method requiring special tool. It is desirable to avoid even the chance of damaging the spinner and/or spinner support assembly during spinner disassembly.